dAfter moving to Cannes to present Killers of the Flower Moongreeted with 9 minutes of applause, Martin Scorsese has announced that he is working on a film about Jesus. A decision made in response to the appeal of Pope Franciswho urged artists to «shout the Gospel message to the worldto let us see Jesus”.
Martin Scorsese in Rome to meet the Pope
The announcement comes after the participation of the American director at the conference The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination, which was held in Rome in recent days. Guest of Catholic civilizationanswered the questions of Father Antonio Spadaro, director of the international Jesuit magazine.
“I have responded to the Pope’s appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus. And I’m about to start making it”he has declared.
Shortly before the conference, Scorsese attended theaudience in the Vatican with Pope Francis, together with his wife Helen and daughter Francesca.
The pontiff, addressing all the artists present, from various countries around the world, said: «Your work helps us to see Jesus, to heal our imagination from everything that obscures his face or, even worse, from everything that wants to tame him. (…) Christ is always greater, he is always a mystery that somehow escapes us».
Martin Scorsese at Cannes 2023. (Getty Images)
The Last Temptation of Christ And Silence
It’s not the first time that the director engages in a similar experience. He already did it in 1988 with The Last Temptation of Christ. In that case, the film was overwhelmed by criticism.
Despite this, he conquered one nomination at the 1989 Academy Awards as best director and two at the Golden Globes for best supporting actress, Barbara Hersheyand for the soundtrack by Peter Gabriel.
But at the same time also a nomination at the 1988 Razzie Awards for Worst Supporting Actor, i.e Harvey Keitel as Judas. On the theme of Jesus, but from a very different point of view, Scorsese returned to deal with it in 2016 with Silencewhich proved to be a box office flop.
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